An Egyptian jihad leader, with self-professed links to the Taliban, called for the âdestruction of the Sphinx and the Giza Pyramids in Egypt,â drawing ties between the Egyptian relics and Buddha statues, local media reported this week.

Murgan Salem al-Gohary, an Islamist leader twice-sentenced under former President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, called on Muslims to remove such âidols.â

âAll Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam to remove such idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues,â he said on Saturday during a television interview on an Egyptian private channel, widely watched by Egyptian and Arab audiences.

âGod ordered Prophet Mohammed to destroy idols,â he added. âWhen I was with the Taliban we destroyed the statue of Buddha, something the government failed to do.â

His comments came a day after thousands of ultraconservative Islamists gathered in Tahrir Square to call for the strict application of Sharia law in the new constitution.

But in retaliation to Goharyâs remarks, the vice president of Tunisiaâs Ennahda party, Sheikh Abdel Fattah Moro, called the live program and told Gohary that famous historic military commander Amr ibn al-Aas did not destroy statues when he conquered Egypt.

âSo who are you to do it?â he wondered. âThe Prophet destroyed the idols because people worshiped them, but the Sphinx and the Pyramids are not worshiped.â

Gohary, 50, is well-known in Egypt for his advocacy of violence, Egypt Independent reported.

âHe was sentenced twice, one of the two sentences being life imprisonment. He subsequently fled Egypt to Afghanistan, where he was badly injured in the American invasion. In 2007, he traveled from Pakistan to Syria, which then handed him over to Egypt. After Mubarak's fall in early 2011, he was released from prison by a judicial ruling,â the newspaper added.

In recent months, fears have surfaced that the ultra-conservative Salafi political powers may soon wish to debate new guidelines over Egyptian antiquities.